Most people don’t realize ABC has been wanting to cancel his show for a while.
It’s been bleeding out ABC money.
Here are the facts.
1. Over Q2 2025, late-night shows overall saw declines. Kimmel was down year-over-year among total viewers.
2. More generally, late-night viewership has been trending downward for most shows, particularly in linear broadcast TV. Viewers are shifting to streaming / online platforms.
3. The costs of the show: exact production costs, host salary, staff, etc., are not (publicly) well documented for Jimmy Kimmel Live! in recent years.
We know in one case (for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) that it was reported to cost over US$100 million/year to produce and allegedly lose ~$40 million/year — though Jimmy Kimmel himself disputed that figure.
We know in one case (for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) that it was reported to cost over US$100 million/year to produce and allegedly lose ~$40 million/year — though Jimmy Kimmel himself disputed that figure.
4. Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been under pressure from declining viewership in the linear TV space. That suggests its ad revenues and value to ABC are declining (absent offset by digital/streaming gains).
Given the show still ranks second among late-night shows in many metrics, holds some value, and likely brings in more than simply its viewership count (e.g. ad/affiliate revenue, digital clips), cancellation might save some money. But whether it saves more than it costs (including opportunity cost, brand, etc.) is uncertain and probably marginal unless the decline is very sharp.
Given the show still ranks second among late-night shows in many metrics, holds some value, and likely brings in more than simply its viewership count (e.g. ad/affiliate revenue, digital clips), cancellation might save some money. But whether it saves more than it costs (including opportunity cost, brand, etc.) is uncertain and probably marginal unless the decline is very sharp.
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